Employee Highlight: Abby Tanner
June 10, 2025
CC&R team leader brings architecture and psychology background to her role
Abby Tanner first knew she wanted to be an architect in the eighth grade.
“I really liked the way that spaces made you feel,” said Tanner, who now serves as assistant director for project management for Capital Construction & Renovation's UVA Health team.
Tanner first joined FM in April 2024 and has pursued multiple career paths. Prior to joining UVA, she worked at an engineering firm where she served as an EPCM (Engineering Procurement & Construction Management) project manager, architect, and an interior designer.
In addition to her full-time work, she worked part-time as an equine professional training horses and specializing in equine-assisted psychotherapy. Typically, this type of therapy is turned to when traditional therapy has not worked, she explained.
“We're using a horse as a tool to help process thought…sometimes a non-verbal partner is the best partner to get through this thought,” she said.
Tanner specialized in trauma, anxiety and autism, and has brought her background in psychology and understanding of the mind to her work in the built environment.
“There are ways we can promote wellbeing subtlety and economically,” she said, such as designing industrial buildings with mental health in mind considering the high suicide rates in that field.
At UVA, Tanner manages a team of eight and most often serves as the team's problem solver.
“When people don't know where to turn, they come to me,” she said. “I'm not the one who necessarily solves the problem, but I can get them in the right direction.”
Her team's projects often involve complex technology in tight spaces.
“We can have a small two-room renovation that could cost between $3-5 million dollars,” she said.
She is especially proud of her team's work over the past year to clear a two-year-old backlog of projects and credits the success to aligning people with their strengths and building on areas of improvement.
Tanner — who gets bored easily and likes to keep busy — has most recently pursued a connection with the Building Goodness Foundation to help fill her time.
“I've always enjoyed working in the nonprofit community, and with the absence of not doing anything community-based [since moving to Virginia], I wanted to fill that gap,” she said.
She has been working with the Building Goodness Foundation for the past six months developing a maintenance plan and identifying renewal projects at The Haven, a multi-resource day shelter to support the homeless community. Tanner is currently working to connect with others at UVA and Facilities Management who would be interested in volunteering their time to support The Haven projects and possibly organizing a UVA volunteer day, similar to recent efforts with Habitat for Humanity and the annual Day of Caring. (Contact Abby Tanner if you're interested in getting involved.)
Outside of work and volunteering, Tanner spends most of her time outside with her 5-year-old son — hiking, kayaking, fishing and horseback riding — and plays drums recreationally, something she pursued throughout high school and college including marching band and drumline.
Jane Centofante
Communications senior generalist
UVA Facilities Management
(434) 982-5846
janecentofante@virginia.edu